San Jose, Calif .—Ramesh Balwani, former CEO of Theranos, was convicted of 12 fraud charges with a stricter verdict than his conspirator Elizabeth Holmes. -Startup testing as the ultimate Silicon Valley warning story.
Balwani and Holmes, who promised to revolutionize health care and soared Theranos, are the most prominent technical executives charged and convicted of fraud across generations. Five male and seven female jury trials took 32 hours to convict Mr. Balwani, known as Sunny, for all 10 wire frauds and two conspiracies.
Holmes was convicted of four fraud charges and four acquittals in January. The other three accusations were dismissed after the jury failed to reach an agreement. She has appealed to the verdict and is expected to do the same for Mr. Balwani.
In both cases, it depended on whether Theranos’ blood testers exaggerated their ability to appeal to investors and customers when the product didn’t really work.
Each count can be imprisoned for up to 20 years. Mr. Balwani and Mr. Holmes will be sentenced together in September.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
Kalley Huang Report that contributed.
